It's Harry's birthday and whilst I wish he'd take a day off from work, I know that's not possible. He's very much needed at his office and he can't simply be absent simply because it's his birthday, though I'm pretty sure his employees wouldn't mind. He's been working hard these past few days to secure the new client and he deserves at least a day off. Harry thinks the otherwise.
So I come up with the next best plan: I decide to surprise him at his office during lunch.
I barely make it through the lift, but thankfully someone is kind enough to hold it open for me. I look up to express my gratitude to the stranger only to realise that that person isn't a stranger at all.
"Thanks, Jesse," I tell him as I straighten the front of my blouse.
He shoots me his infamous smirk. "I'm guessing you're here for Harry?" I nod and his eyes land on the paper bag I'm holding. "Birthday lunch?"
Again, I nod. I notice that he's holding a brown bag as well. "You're gonna have lunch at the office?"
"Yeah," he answers. Before I can wonder why would he want to have lunch at the office, he adds, "Wanted to squeeze in some work whilst I eat."
"Multitasking," I reply. "I've done that a lot."
"Must be a pro," he remarks.
A chuckle leaves my mouth just as the door of the lift dings open. Jesse lets me step out first before he follows suit. When he catches up to me, I say, "So, I don't want to be nosy-"
"But you are," he interjects with a kink of an eyebrow. A sheepish smile touches my lips. He laughs. "Go on."
"How's work treating you?" I ask him. That's not what I wanted to ask initially, but since he sees right through me I decide to change the route a little. I point at his lunch then and continue, "You must be really busy if you have to work during lunch."
"Not really," he replies with a shrug. "I like to get my work done early. I know I'm on thin ice with Harry and as much as I wish I could piss him off on a daily basis, I'd really like to stay on this job."
"Yeah?"
He stops walking, shoves his hand into the pocket of his trousers and says, "I actually enjoy working here."
"That's great. I'm proud of you, you know?" I tell him as I pat his shoulder. For a moment, his eyes twinkle with delight and whilst I don't mean to assume anything, I have a feeling that he doesn't hear those words often – my heart hurts at the thought of that. "And I'm sure you're not on thin ice with Harry, but if he's giving you a hard time, let me know. I'll see what I can do."
He lets out a chuckle at my attempt to wink at him. "That's what sister-in-law is for, right?"
"Absolutely," I grin at him.
"Well, I wouldn't want to keep Harry waiting," Jesse says, taking a few steps back.
"Why don't you join us?" I blurt out the moment the idea pops into my head. I might have bought too much food – mostly out of excitement and hunger – and I don't think Harry and I could finish it. "The more the merrier, isn't it?"
Smiling, Jesse shakes his head. "I appreciate the offer, but as I said: thin ice."
"Too bad," I pout. "Next time?"
"Definitely," he nods.
Before Jesse and I can part ways, a familiar voice interrupts us, "Look who's here."
I don't have to turn around because the look on Jesse's face confirms my suspicion; it's Audrey. I take a deep breath and plaster a smile across my face before I turn around to face her. "Audrey."
"Beverly." At that moment, I'm not sure whose smile is faker: hers or mine. Her eyes land on Jesse then and she adds, "Jesse. I'm surprised you're still here."
Jesse rolls his eyes so hard that I almost laugh at how comical he looks. "Where else would I be?" He replies, annoyance lilting his voice.
Audrey looks at him briefly, a look of dissatisfaction written all over her face. But she's quick to mask it with a cynical smile when she returns her gaze to me. "I have to say, Beverly, the fact that you're still around amazes me. Truly, I'm impressed."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I know I shouldn't fall for her trap, but I want to hear what she has to say. For all I know, she knows about the divorce Harry and I were supposed to get and as petty as this might sound, I want to see the look on her face when I tell her that it's not happening.
"Well, last I heard Harry has signed the divorce paper," she says, proving me right. She does know about it. "I was right, wasn't I? He'll never love you the way he loves me."
"Loved," Jesse coughs next to me, making me snicker. Audrey directs her sharp gaze at Jesse as though she's challenging him – that's a wrong thing to do. "Get over yourself, Aud. He doesn't love you anymore. You're only around because of my mum."
In an instant, her face contorts with anger. "Stay out of this, Jesse. You obviously know nothing about what's going on."
"I do know you're obsessed with Harry and you can't accept the fact that he doesn't love you anymore."
"As I said, you know nothing," Audrey says through her gritted teeth. "They're getting a divorce so obviously he still has-"
"Actually we're not getting divorced," I interrupt her. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops open. The shocked expression she's fashioning at the moment is, needless to say, priceless. Smearing a fat smirk across my face, I add, "Turns out Harry does love me. Shocking, isn't it?"
Jesse lets out a chuckle, muttering something under his breath. Audrey opens and closes her mouth, obviously at loss of words – that'd be a first.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go surprise my husband."
At that, I wave at her, bid my goodbye to Jesse and make my way to Harry's office. I knock on it twice and when I hear him say 'come in', I twist the knob and step inside. He doesn't even look up so I clear my throat, hoping that it'll get his attention.
"Bambi?"
"Surprise!" I exclaim as I close the door behind and stalk across the room to get to Harry. He gets up from his chair and closes the distance between us. In an instant, his arms are wrapped around me and his lips are on mine. Though I'm taken aback by his moves, it takes me less than five seconds to kiss him back, my body melting against his and my fingers weaving their ways through his hair.
Harry pulls away to catch his breath, a contented sigh leaving his mouth.
"If I knew that's how you're gonna react when I surprise you, I'd surprise you more often," is the first thing I say once I've gotten air inside my lungs. Harry lets out a chuckle before taking a few steps away from me. Holding up the paper bag, I announce, "I brought lunch."
Harry's eyes dart from the paper bag to my face, "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"No, you haven't," I tease him. He has told me he loves me twice today. Once when he woke me up and once when he left before I did this morning.
"Doesn't sound like me," he counters, kinking an eyebrow at me. "Are you sure?"
I tap my chin and tilt my head, pretending to be mulling over his question. "Yeah, pretty sure."
Chuckling, he shakes his head and bops my nose with his finger. I scrunch up my nose at him and he leans forward to peck me on the lips. "As much as I'd love to continue what we did earlier, I'm kinda hungry."
I raise an eyebrow at him, shocked. "Did you just choose food over sex with me?"
This time, a loud laughter escapes his mouth as he pulls out a chair for me. "I believe I just did."
Once I've taken a seat, he returns to his seat behind the desk. He rolls the sleeves of his shirt until they reach his elbow before he clears his desk, putting aside the documents that look important so there's a space for us to eat lunch.
"That's quite a drastic change for someone who just turned 28, don't you think?" I mention, taking the food out of the paper bag and placing them on the desk. Harry's hand freezes and he looks at me, a shocked expression written all over his face. I shoot him a wide smile. "Happy birthday, birthday boy."
"Thank you," he smiles back. "Didn't think I've ever told you about my birthday."
"Oh yeah." He never told me about his birthday, probably because he didn't even care about celebrating it, which is such a shame because I love birthdays. "I googled it."
He arches an eyebrow at me, grinning from ear to ear. "So you did Google me."
"'Course," I reply. "Have to run a background check on you, y'know? Need to make sure you're a human, not an alien or summat."
"You're ridiculous." He laughs, to which I respond with a wink.
Once everything has been laid out on his desk, I say, "Dig in, birthday boy."
As we eat, Harry talks to me about his new client and how he's hoping he could secure the deal. It's obvious how important the client is to him so with confidence, I tell him that he'll secure whatever deal they're making. After all, I'm convinced that Harry can get whatever he wants. He has nothing to worry about because if he can charm Elizabeth Griffith and make her love him, he can do just about anything.
"Enough about me," he says, "how's your day so far?"
"Hey, it's your birthday so we should talk about you all day long," I counter with a raised eyebrow. He shoots me a pointed look. "My day's been good. Bumped into Jesse just now."
"Ah, I was going to ask you that," he mentions. "What'd you two talk about?"
"You," I answer.
"Me?"
"Mhmm," I hum. "He told me he's on thin ice with you."
Harry lets out an incredulous scoff and rolls his eyes. "He's exaggerating," he comments. It's interesting to see how when it comes to Jesse, as much as Harry refuses to admit it, he does treat him like a brother. I've never had a brother, but I do know that brothers like to give their siblings shit. I suppose this is Harry's way of giving Jesse shit, though Jesse doesn't see it that way – their relationship is complicated.
"Exaggerating or not, I told him that if you're giving him a hard time, he should come to me." Harry shoots me a disbelieving look. "I'm just trying to be a good sister-in-law."
"You're beyond good to him," Harry replies.
"Oh and I also bumped into Audrey," I add. He kinks an eyebrow at me, waiting for me to continue my story. "Apparently she knows about the divorce."
"My mum must've told her." There's a troubled look on Harry's face now. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm a firm believer that one should not worry about anything else on their birthdays. "What else did she say to you?"
"Nothing much," I reply with a shrug.
Harry keeps his eyes fixed on my face as he doesn't quite believe me. I should've known by now that there's no point in hiding something from him because at the end of the day, he'll find out about it. It'd be better if it comes from me than from other people.
"Well, she told me you'd never love me as much you love her." Harry leans against his chair and shakes his head. Anger flashes in his eyes and before he can say something he probably doesn't mean, I quickly add, "But hey, it doesn't matter. I don't believe her. She said that to me before and she's wrong."
"Good," Harry nods albeit the frown adorning his forehead. "You shouldn't believe the words that come out of her mouth."
"I know." I reach for Harry's hand and give it a squeeze. "Let's talk about something else."
"Okay." He rubs his thumb over mine, the smallest of gesture putting a smile on my face. Harry clears his throat and I prepare myself to hear what he has to say next. "I do have something to ask you."
"Please tell me it's not divorce-related." My smile falters and my heartbeats increase almost instantly. He lets out a chuckle and shakes his head. Thank God. "Okay. Then, what's it?"
"Since we're getting our vows renewed, I was wondering if you'd want to invite your dad?" He asks. There's uncertainty in his eyes as he scans my face and I know that he was unsure of whether or not he should ask me this question. "I know we want to keep the guest list short, but he's your father and I think he'd love to be there."
I haven't really thought of that. So far, I've only put my mum, Indie, Freya and Niall on the list. We want to keep the ceremony as small as possible, mostly because we want it to be personal. We want to share it with those we care about and I can't decide if I care about my father. Even though he's my blood and he's trying his best to be a part of my life, the resentment I harboured years ago hasn't completely faded away. I suppose it's going to take some time.
"It's okay if you don't want to invite him," Harry's voice pulls me from my thoughts. He shoots me a smile when I look at him. "I just thought it'd be a nice opportunity to start fresh, you know?"
He's right. The vow renewal would definitely be a great opportunity for me to start fresh with not only Harry, but also my father. He still texts me everyday, sending me updates about his life to make me feel somewhat closer to him. In a way, I do feel like I know him more and more each day, and I suppose that's something. I can see his effort and maybe it's time for me to push aside my ego. I should just admit to myself that I want him to be a part of my life and I want to be a part of his.
"I-Yeah, you're right," I tell him, to which a smug grin touches his lips. He loves it when I admit that he's right. But then again, who doesn't love it? It's music to everyone's ears. "We should invite him."
+++
I left work early so I could buy some groceries and still manage to be at home before Harry does. I've looked up recipes on the Internet, trying to search for the best and yet easiest meal to cook for Harry tonight. He always cooks for me and I thought it'd be fun to return the favour – especially since it's his birthday today.
As soon as I arrive home, I strip out of my working attire, take a quick shower and put on the fancy robe I bought a while ago.
With all the ingredients laid out on the counter, I begin following the directions provided on the website. I've never made chicken parmigiana before, but I hope to God and everything good on this earth that I'll nail it on my first try. I have to otherwise I might have to order something – I don't want to do that. Besides, it seems simple enough.
Whilst waiting for the chicken to cook, I pour myself a glass of red wine and take a few sips of it.
The kitchen smells good and I take that as a good sign. Maybe I'm not that bad at cooking.
"Bambi?"
"In the kitchen," I call back before I finish my wine and refill my glass. Harry appears in the doorway a few seconds later with a smile on his face. "Hey."
"Hey." His eyes dart from my face to the stove and back to my face. "Are you cooking for me?"
"Mhmm," I nod. "And for myself of course because I'm starving."
"Smells good," he comments as he makes his way to the stove. "What're you cooking?"
"Chicken parmigiana, " I tell him. He glances through his shoulder, an impressed look written all over his face. "I just thought you'd prefer to spend the night in instead of going out."
"You're right," he replies. He turns around and places his hands on each side of my arms. "You really do know me, don't you?"
"It turns out that Google is really helpful," I say, to which he lets out a chuckle before leaning forward to press a kiss on my lips. Before the kiss can go any further, I stop him and pull back. He raises an eyebrow at me. "Don't want to burn down the kitchen."
"Fair enough." Harry steps out of my way and helps me with the meal.
As we prepare the food, Harry tells me about the birthday party he used to have until he was twenty-three. He didn't like it because it always ended up a mess and that's the last thing he wanted on his birthday. But his friends thought the opposite.
"Let me guess," I interject as we take our plate to the dining table. "You stop talking to them as soon as you graduated."
"You're right," he admits with a nod, a sheepish smile touching his lips. "I know it sounds bad-"
"It's not," I interrupt him again. "I haven't talked to any of my uni friends since we graduated."
"Looks like we have something in common," he says. I nod my head, agreeing with him. "But as you said earlier, I do prefer to spend the night in. Especially with a beautiful girl like you."
Against my better judgment, my cheeks warm up. There are some things that you'll never get used to and I guess I'll never get used to Harry complimenting me. Not when he looks at me like he wants to devour me instead of the meal I just cooked for him – I'm fine with either, honestly.
"Have I told you that you make me happy?" Harry suddenly says. I look up, only to see that his eyes already on mine.
"I-Not really," I answer, stammering a little. Harry makes me nervous sometimes. "But you've told me several times that you love me so I think it's pretty much the same." He smiles at my response. "What?"
Blinking his eyes several times, he straightens his back and clears his throat. "Nothing," he replies. I kink an eyebrow at him – I don't think he means that. He reaches for my hand and intertwines his fingers with mine. "I love you," he says, "so much."
A huge smile tugs at my lips and I give in to it. "I love you so much too."
"And thank you for this," he points at the plate in front of him. "This is possibly the best birthday ever."
I roll my eyes at that bold statement. "I doubt that," I tell him. There's no way this is his best birthday. He's probably only saying that to make me feel better.
"No, really," he reassures me. He proceeds to telling me that this is how he envisions his birthdays to be like when he settles down with someone and that warms my heart.
We chat about anything and everything until both of our plates and glasses are empty.
"You know, I've been meaning to tell you that this robe is messing with my head," Harry says when we've washed our dishes. He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
"Is that so, Mr Styles?" I hope that comes out as a tease because that's what it is meant to be.
A groan leaves his throat. "I love it when you call me that."
"What? Mr Styles?" I quiz, to which he nods his answer. "So you love it when everyone at work calls you that?"
He gives me a pointed, annoyed look. That makes me laugh. "You know what I meant, bambi."
"I know," I grin. "I believe I was teasing you just now."
"You tease me all the time," he counters with a scoff.
I let out a gasp. "I do not."
"Yes, you do," he replies, chuckling when I continue to shake my head.
He leans down, ducking his face so his lips could touch mine. The soft, wonderfully sweet kiss easily turns into an intense, passionate kiss and his fingertips dig into my hips as he urges me to wrap my legs around his waist. I trail my fingers up his arm, earning myself a shiver before I grab his hair and give it a tug. Groaning, he detaches his lips from mine and his eyes meet mine. I can see desire written all over his face as he devours me with his eyes.
"I have one more surprise for you," I whisper to Harry in between breaths. A questioning look is what he gives in return. "C'mon."
I hop off of him, take his hand in mine and lead him to our room. Once we're inside, I pull my hand away from him and I begin taking my robe off slowly and in a teasing way. I can tell that he doesn't like being teased but tonight I enjoy not being on the receiving end.
Harry's eyes widen slightly when my robe pools at my feet, revealing my naked body. I consider putting on lingerie but he'll only rip it off so it's best if I keep it.
"Bambi," he finally speaks.
He takes a few steps towards me, his hands immediately reaching out for my waist. With his fingers digging into my hips, I make a move to take his shirt off. Once it's off, I run my fingertips across his skin, sketching goose bumps whilst my other hand works on taking off his trousers. It's not long before both of our naked bodies are pressed against each other and his hands are everywhere at once.
Harry kisses me as though we don't have the entire night to ourselves and that reminds me of the night we met and had sex. It felt like it was a long time ago but it wasn't. It was less than a year ago – funny how a lot could happen in only a few months. Never in a million years would I ever think that I'd meet the guy I hooked up with and got married to him. If someone were to tell me that back then, I would have undoubtedly laughed at their faces because it's ludicrous.
"What're you thinking about?" Harry asks as he puts me down on our bed and hovers above me.
"The night we met," I reply.
"At Niall's house?" He asks. I shake my head. "At the bar?"
"Yeah." I run my fingers across the tattoos adorning his arm as my mind takes me back to that night. The night when I felt so alive. "Crazy, isn't it? That we ended up together."
Harry shakes his head, disagreeing with me. "I think it makes perfect sense."
"You do?"
"Yeah," he nods. He trails his thumb across my jaw, his eyes flickering from my eyes to my lips. "This might sound cheesy but I always thought there's something different about you. It's like I'm drawn to you or something."
"I've been told that I'm irresistible," I brag, earning laughter from Harry. When his laughter has died down, I continue, "You know if someone were to tell me that getting married to you in Las Vegas would get me here, I wouldn't mind doing it all over again."
"Is that so?" he sounds surprised. "Why?"
I shrug. "I just think I learned a lot about myself these past few months. And despite everything that we've been through, I'm happy. I'm so so happy, it's ridiculous."
Harry has a longing expression on his face when I finally look up at him. "It's not ridiculous," he replies as he blinks his eyes once, twice. He leans down, then, and captures my lips for a kiss. "What ridiculous is that I just realised we haven't set a date for our vow renewal."
My eyes widen. "Oh my God, we haven't."
Harry chuckles. "Should I put on my pants so we can talk about this?"
"No, no," I shake my head as I wrap my arms around his neck and pulls him down to me. With his lips so close to mine, I say, "That can wait."
"But you can't wait?" He kinks an eyebrow at me.
It seems like he has no clue about my plan. I take that as an opportunity for me to push on his shoulder until he lies on his back next to me so I can climb onto his lap. He grips my hips tightly and lets out a quiet moan as I nip and suck on his skin.
"Bambi," he breathes when I trail wet kisses down past his chest to the lower region of his stomach.
I survey his face and watch as his eyes roll back very slightly when I gently take him in my hand. His breathing goes shallow almost instantly and his fingers grip the sheet, and it's all the confirmation I need to dip my head down and take him in my mouth.
"Fuck," he grunts, his eyes falling shut. I glance up at him through my eyelashes as I take him deeper and deeper until I feel him twitch inside my mouth. "Bambi," he chokes on a moan as he reaches for my hair, gripping it. His lips part, his chest heaves up and down when he reaches his climax.
Harry opens his eyes a few seconds later and urges me to come up to him.
"Happy birthday," I tell him as I press a kiss on the corner of his mouth. A lazy smile touches his lips.
"Happy birthday to me," he rasps. He wipes under my bottom lip gently and adds, "You're mad, do you know that?"
"I was expecting an I love you, but that's good enough I guess."
Harry flips me over, his eyes scanning my face. "Let's do it on Valentine's day."
I arch an eyebrow at him whilst I mull over his suggestion. "That's less than 2 weeks away, Harry."
"I think it's doable," he proposes. "Just say yes and it'll all be settled."
My eyes dart from his eyes to his lips and back to his eyes. I don't know how he'll pull this off but I trust him. "You know I can't say no to you, right?"
